Alison Cutland
Senior Business Development Manager
Cranfield Online
If you spend enough time in learning and development circles, you will hear people increasingly talk about ‘lifelong learning’, but what is lifelong learning and why is it becoming more important to individuals and organisations alike?
What is lifelong learning?
A type of personal and professional development, lifelong learning refers to the process whereby a person is continuously upskilling, reskilling and uncovering new career and personal growth pathways throughout their lifetime.
Lifelong learners are those who actively and intentionally engage in activities designed to build their skillset in some way, as part of an ongoing, long-term process of self-improvement. Whether pursuing personal interests and passions or chasing their professional ambitions, they are always honing their skills and seeking to expand their knowledge.
These activities may not necessarily be formal training courses related to their work or a desired career path, but could instead entail learning a language, playing a new sport, reading books about subjects of interest, or teaching themselves about a new technology.
The key is that the chosen learning is voluntary and led by that individual – they choose what they want to learn, when and how, and whether they undertake it for personal fulfilment or to support their professional development.
Lifelong learning: Benefits for individuals
Human beings are natural learners. We have a curiosity and a drive to explore and learn that helps us grow and develop from a very young age all the way through into adulthood.
People who consciously engage in lifelong learning may gain numerous benefits from doing so. These include:
- Personal fulfilment
- Self-discovery
- Improved cognitive health
- Better ‘soft’ skills
- Renewed motivation
- Greater confidence
- An expanded personal network
Aside from these personal benefits, continuous or lifelong learning is also a way for individuals to ensure they remain relevant in a competitive job market, to guarantee job security, and to progress in their career.
This is because employers are increasingly realising the benefit that an individual’s commitment to continuous learning and improvement brings to their organisation.
The traditional model of undertaking university learning and expecting it to last throughout a career, perhaps with a couple of ‘top-up’ training sessions along the way, is no more – the world is far too uncertain and fast-moving for that.
Lifelong learning: Benefits for employers
In 2011, authors and researchers John Seely Brown and Peter Denning found that the half-life of a learned skill was around five years. This means that, five years on from any learning undertaken, the value of the skill or skills gained would have halved, with most skills picked up 10 years ago or more likely to be obsolete.
With the pace of technological change in the past decade, accelerated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is safe to assume that the lifespan of learned skills has further decreased.
Add to this the increasing uncertainty and volatility in today’s world and it’s not difficult to see why everyone is talking about the skills gap as a threat to business performance.
A serious commitment to learning and professional development is now being viewed by organisations as a highly sought-after quality in their employees and new hires, as it enables them to build a resilient, adaptable workforce that drives towards the future.
Lifelong learning with stackable micro-credentials
At Cranfield University, we are big believers in the value of lifelong learning. As a specialist post-graduate and post-experience learning provider, we specialise in providing courses to people engaging in the process of continuous or lifelong learning.
Our online stackable courses are bite-sized modules of self-paced learning that can be accessed by individuals and organisations alike and flexed as needed. Whether you need new or additional knowledge in a particular subject, to develop new capabilities within your team, or to quickly upskill – perhaps to secure a new and better role – online stackables can help.
The pay-as-you-go model allows learners to pick and choose what to study next according to their interests, or as their career develops over time. While the on-demand nature of the module content enables learning to be completed whenever and wherever best suits the individual.
If desired, individual modules can be stacked, leading to a bespoke MSc in Business and Management.
If lifelong learning is your goal, you can find out more about our online stackable programmes by exploring our course portfolio.
